AS-41
Avtomat Semyonovich, Model 1941 The Avtomat Semyonovich 1941, AS-1941 for short, is an automatic 7.62x54R-caliber full-length battle rifle developed by gun designer Vityaev Semyonovich for the Red Army in 1941. The weapon was used in the Eastern Front against the German threat in experimental service. The People's Automatic Rifle In 1941, the Wehrmacht reneged on a neutrality pact and began Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Soviet forces on the front were caught undersupplied, understaffed, and under-morale; week after week, crushing defeats came from the news tickers. One of the most serious issues was equipment; the Mosin-Nagant, PPD-40, and PPSh-41 were simply outclassed for the most part by the high-quality Karabiner 98 K, MP-40, and the infamous "Hitler's Buzzsaw", the MG-42. Junior designer Vityaev Semyonovich understood the difficulties of the Mosin-Nagant in particular; it was simply less accurate, slower to fire, and overall roughly made compared to the K98 in the current state of engineering. Inspired by the SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle, and the sheer firepower of the MG-42, Vityaev put his head to thinking, and realized: why not make a rifle that could put out the power of a machine gun? So he went to the drawing board. Months later, the AS-41 was adopted in experimental service by the Red Army, and went to become an uncommon yet highly prized and efficient automatic rifle. Furious Fire The AS-41 was a simple design. A gas-operated semi-automatic rifle in 7.62x54R, its chief advantage was that it had an experimental fire selector; when set to automatic, the weapon was capable of roaring out a ten-round magazine at a rate of 600 RPM, chewing up entire rooms of German soldiers. The magazine was compatible with the SVT-40, as were several parts, and the weapon was overall reliable and simple to use. It was made of largely stamped and machined parts, reducing the amount of time needed to build each rifle. The weapon's chief disadvantage was recoil; the 7.62x54R round kicked like a mule, meaning that most of the time Soviet troops used it either in short bursts, or in semi-automatic mode at range. Regardlessly, the AS-41 worked excellently. The main reason that it was not adopted instead of the Mosin-Nagant was production time; in those dark early years of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army simply could not spare the production time to make AS-41 rifles instead of Mosin-Nagants. In the later years of the war, they adopted the AS-41 to a larger extent; it would never quite supplant the Mosin-Nagant however. The weapon was used as an alternative to the SKS up through the introduction of the AK-47, and was finally phased out after the introduction of the SVD, ending an alternate career as a designated marksman's rifle. Features * 42 inch length * 600 RPM fire rate in full automatic, safe/auto/semi fire selector * 10 round 7.62x54R magazine * Gas-operated firing mechanism * Bolt handle reciprocates during firing, and can be manually employed to forcefully cycle the weapon * High reliability * Stamped steel parts * Bayonet lug * Full wood stock * Stamped steel and machined steel parts Export